Byram cops make one arrest in iPhone theft, still searching for Bergenfield man

BYRAM — Police have made one arrest in connection with an iPhone theft this February, but are looking for the public's help in locating another suspect.

Police are asking for the public's help in locating a man connected to an iPhone theft. File photo

On Feb. 24, Byram police received a report of an iPhone stolen out of an unlocked vehicle in the Quick Chek parking lot on Route 206, Byram Police Lt. Peter Zabita said in a news release.

One of the individuals, later identified as Jonathan Negron, 29, of Bergenfield, looked into the vehicle and pointed the phone, while the other individual, later identified as Nico Vega, 24, of the Bronx, N.Y., entered the unlocked vehicle and stole the phone, Zabita said. Police haven't been able to track the phone because it wasn't turned on, he said.

Surveillance video showed that the individual who stole the phone was
with others who made purchases in the store using a credit card, Zabita
said.

A subpoena of the credit
card records revealed the identity of the card holder, and an interview with the credit card holder's
family revealed that one of the individuals in the surveillance photos was Negron, Zabita said.

Later in the investigation, an anonymous tip revealed that the
individual who stole the phone from the vehicle was Vega, Zabita said.

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Vega
was identified from surveillance photos and charged with burglary and
theft, Zabita said. Vega, who is on parole in New York for prior
offenses, was extradited from New York City, and lodged in the Sussex
County Jail in lieu of $10,000 with no 10 percent option, Zabita said.

Vega was paroled in June 2012 after
serving 31 months on a conviction of attempted criminal possession of a
weapon, a second-degree crime, according to the New York Department of Corrections' website. His maximum sentence was three years, according to department records.

Negron, who has active warrants out for his arrest, was charged with burglary, theft and conspiracy because of his role during the incident, Zabita said.

The Byram Township Police Department is asking
anyone who may know of Negron's whereabouts to contact Detective Robert Tierney at 973-347-4008.